skean

1 of 4

variants or skeane

less common spellings of skein

skean

2 of 4

noun (1)

ˈskē(-ə)n 

variants or skene

: dagger, dirk

skein

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noun (2)

ˈskān 

1

or less commonly skean or skeane

ˈskān 

: a loosely coiled length of yarn or thread wound on a reel

2

: something suggesting the twists or coils of a skein : tangle

3

: a flock of wildfowl (such as geese or ducks) in flight

skein

4 of 4

verb

skeined; skeining; skeins

transitive verb

: to wind into skeins

skein yarn

Examples of skean in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Didion’s missives were keenly observant, full of language that cut like a skean. —Erin Overbey, The New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2021

Noun

Its shop, housed in an 1890 schoolhouse, sells beautiful knitwear, jewelry, and home goods by the school’s students and instructors, plus skeins of yarn. —Charles Usher, Midwest Living, 26 May 2026

The skein of stock success has ended. —Jim Cramer, CNBC, 25 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English skene, from Irish scian & Scottish Gaelic sgian, from Old Irish scían; probably akin to Sanskrit chyati he cuts off — more at science

Noun (2)

Middle English skeyne, from Middle French (Picard) escagne, probably from Vulgar Latin *scamnia, from *scamniare to wind yarn, from *scamnium rack for holding bobbins, from Latin scamnum bench, stool — more at shambles

First Known Use

Noun (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1775, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for skean

• bean
• bein
• bien
• bouin
• clean
• deen
• diene
• gene
• glean
• jean
• keen
• lien